Effective Teachers Are Reachers, Not Preachers - Grasshopper

It’s easy to preach, just assemble a crowd and say whatever’s on your mind. The difficulty is that your message may not reach those in attendance. Your sermon becomes a snooze.

When we put too much attention on us and our words, communication suffers. Reminds me of one of my former careers: program director for radio stations.

 

Quite often when coaching radio talent, I would hear them paying lots of attention to their voice and how they sounded. I would ask them if they knew who Barbara Walters was. Once they said, “Yes,” I would ask if they thought she had a good voice. The answer was always, “No.” I then asked, “If she doesn’t have a good voice, how is she so darn successful?” I answered my own question by saying, “She communicates.”

 

Too many people, when attempting to reach and teach others, make people disappear by paying too much attention to what they’re saying rather than if they’re connecting.

 

Think of someone you consider a total bore and then notice how they make everyone in their presence disappear when they speak. They are so focused on what they have to say, they don’t notice that you have gone away.

 

The message here is to pay attention to those you’re addressing, and your reach will exceed your gas.

 

All the best,

John